A Simple Task to a Sticky Situation
by Trepidation Chance
Summary: In his spare time, Fate loves to meddle with things he isn't supposed to. For instance, bringing two specific people together on the Eve of Christmas. ONE-SHOT


Toshiro.

Karin.

Two simple people, but fate seemed to love playing with them. It was late one Christmas Eve when chaos struck. Out on the snow covered streets, the said boy... I mean shinigami, was clicking on his call-able hollow pager (Uruhara has weird naming traits). Deciding against staying at Orihime's house, he had nowhere to stay for the night. Assigned to Karakura Town to check out the recent rise of hollow activity, it was obvious what the cause was when he stepped into the Human World. Someone's reiatsu/spiritual power was out of control and Toshiro had assumed it was due to fright.

But after staying for the day, he realised that the pressure didin't drop one bit. If anything, it probably rose up a notch or two. Between seeking for the source of the reiatsu and slaying down hollows, he also had to juggle in the sudden disappearance of random hollows. But as the sun fell down, he decided to turn in for the night and search the next day.

Once he stepped into Orihime's apartment though, he immediately rushed out, pinching his nose. He had almost forgotten the weird concoctions Orihime called food that occurred three times a day. Now here he was stuck on the streets, trying to find a vacancy in nearby hotels. Finding none, he decided to go for his last option: Staying at the Shinigami Substitute's house. Having no choice, he strolled over to the Kurosaki Household.

As he walked, he pondered about his day's findings. Currently, he had two mysteries to solve. One, who had the reiatsu that attracted all the hollows, and two, who was the one ridding the town of hollows? But one thing was for certain. Toshiro knew he would find out once he stepped into the Kurosaki Clinic. And right he was, as he felt the reiatsu becoming more concentrated. Standing outside, before he could knock the door, it had smashed open with a flash of orange shooting past him. There, with his butt on the floor, was Kurosaki Ichigo, Shinigami Substitute.

Blinking in confusion, he stared at Toshiro, who had evaded the swinging door with ease.

"Toshiro! What are you doing here?" he asked the snow-white haired, elementary-school-looking captain.

"It's Hitsugaya-taicho to you." he replied. "I'm here to check up on the sudden rise of hollows in this area, and it seems like a reiatsu in your house is attracting them." He swept his fringe back with his hand. "Tell me the truth, Kurosaki. What's going on?"

Ichigo sighed. "I see, It must be Karin." He stood up and wiped the snow off his pants. "She had a sudden rise of reiatsu and has been burning a fever ever since. I've been killing off the hollows that came too close, but I don't know how to stop her release of spiritual power!" Ichigo exploded, pacing around, grabbing fistfuls of his hair in frustration.

But suddenly, a light bulb pinged above his head.

"Hey... Hitsugaya-taicho?" Ichigo said slowly. Toshiro knew immediately this wasn't going to be good. "Can you take care of Karin while I go out defeating the hollows?"

Toshiro spun his head towards Ichigo. "Why me!? She's YOUR sister, Kurosaki. I'll deal with the hollows." As he headed out the gate, Ichigo grabbed him by the shoulder, effectively halting the captain to a stop.

"You need a place to stay, right? Anyway, you probably have the knowledge to stop Karin's fever! It was induced by the sudden rise of her reiatsu, right? You can help her body cope with the extra pressure with your kidou! Please, a captain like you should head into and stop the source of chaos, not that Karin is chaotic herself. I can't handle this situation by myself, so please let me do what I can do. I beg of you! She's been sick for a week!" Bowing, Ichigo wizzed out the gate, leaving no room for any replies from Toshiro.

Sighing out in annoyance, he walked into the house and slowly made his way up the stairs. Still in shinigami form, he walked into Karin's bedroom without Yuzu, her twin, noticing. The said girl was kneeling next to Karin's bed, placing a new wet towel on her forehead.

"Karin-chan? Are you feeling better? Onii-chan went out to buy some things for the fridge, so he should be back quickly." Yuzu calmly explained to her sick sister, moving her black bangs away from her eyes. Karin groaned and muttered under her breath. Her voice was hoarse, raw from the fever. Slowly, she opened her eyes, but still blind to the world.

"Toshiro." She continued to whisper his name as she struggled to look around for the shinigami. She was so sapped of energy that she couldn't see him even though he was right in front of her. Scanning the room with tired eyes, Yuzu shook her head.

"Not Toshiro, Karin-chan. It's nii-chan! Nii-chan went out." Still, Karin ignored her and continued to look around for that familiar reiatsu. Deciding to turn in for the night, Yuzu yawned and said good night. "How does 'Toshiro' sound like 'Ichigo', anyway?" she muttered under her breath as she tucked into bed.

Fairly sure that both twins were asleep, Toshiro stood up from the seat and walked towards the sick Kurosaki. Examining Karin, he was able to target the problem of her sudden rise of reiatsu. Her zanpakuto was awakening and opened up a reserve of spiritual power in her to be able to fully wake up. He understood that a zanpakuto wouldn't endanger their masters without a choice, so he hypothesised that leaving the reserve wasn't a big issue. The real problem was that the amount of reiatsu in it was spilling out too fast.

Deciding to make a barrier to slow down the release of spiritual power, he chanted a few words and placed it at the entrance of the reserve. Immediately, her reiatsu lowered down to normal, her fever slowly fading away. Slightly relieved that he solved the problem quickly, he climbed out the window, but before he could jump down, he heard Karin call him name.

"Toshiro... Is that you?" Spinning around, he faced a tired Karin, sitting up for the first time in a week. She reached her hand out. "Toshiro, are you going again? Without saying goodbye?"

He sighed, and held her hand. "Go back to sleep, you need it. I'll visit again, I promise. Now, go and dream about soccor." Clicking his fingers, her eyes snapped shut and he lowered her sleeping form down into her bed.

The next morning, she woke up to the face of her dad.  
"GET OUT OF MY FACE, GOAT CHIN!" Kicking him out of the room, she sat up and looked around. No longer could she feel Toshiro's reiatsu, she was almost convinced it was all a dream before she took a glance at her coffee table. On it was a snowglobe, and at first touch, she realised it was made out of ice, but it didn't melt under her hand. Picking it up, she saw that inside was a field of grass, with a soccer ball and goal posts also craved out of ice. Instead of glitter, there was miniature snowflakes, gently floating down.

On the table, there was a card that didn't go unnoticed by Karin's sharp eyes. Picking it up too, she flipped it over to read the message.  
"I hope you have a good Christmas and a happy New Year. Like I promised, I will visit more often and beat you in soccer, more than once. Be careful around hollows and have fun next year. -Toshiro"

Smiling, Karin placed both items back onto the table and jumped out. "Well, we can't have him beating me, can we? Time to get out of this house for a while!"


End file.
